Julie has a plan
by haleigh.l
Summary: A long oneshot. Julie runs away from home and enlists help from Stephanie. Post TS.


_Just a funny one-shot. Please, please, please review_

_Major spoilers for TS. I needed this set in the summer, but after Ranger was healed from Scrog. So please forgive the inconsistency in dates._

_As always, I own nothing, and make no profit._

_Rating for language_

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I was standing in my kitchen, drinking a coke and eating a pop-tart. Not the most nutritious dinner I had ever come up with, but better than some I had eaten. And certainly better than suffering through my mother's dinner. Albert and Val were there with the monsters. Grandma had gotten a new glock. My father was still upset that the Mets lost this afternoon. And my mother would still be bemoaning the fact that Joe and I had split up. She had not taking the news well that he was dating a nurse.

Nothing could make me go to my mother's house right now.

Except that. I could hear the locks tumbling. Since I knew it wasn't Joe, it could only be one person. I had only seen Ranger a couple times since Joe and I split. A couple bone-melting kisses in the alley behind the bond's office, and he was off like the wind. I had no idea what to do with my feelings for Ranger, so I had pretty much been avoiding him. Looked like that wasn't going to work anymore.

My mouth dropped open as a very young, very female version of Ranger stepped into my apartment.

"Julie! What are you doing here?" I glanced behind her, but didn't see Ranger. "Where's your dad?" And could everyone break into this apartment? Hell, an eleven year old just picked my locks.

"Hi Steph. Um, my dad's not here. He doesn't know where I am. I ran away and I was hoping I could stay with you. Please?"

I just stood there with my mouth hanging open for a while. This kid got away from Ranger and the Merry Men? That's impressive. I knew she and Ranger had been talking by phone and e-mail since the Scrog thing, and were getting much closer. I hadn't realized she was in town. It kind of hurt that he hadn't even told me. "You were here to visit your dad, and you ran away?"

"No, I ran away from my mom. She think's I'm at my Grandma Martine's house in Miami."

My eyes widened in shock. "Julie, how did you get to Trenton?"

"I took the bus."

Oh my god. Ranger's daughter hopped on a bus, alone, from Miami to Trenton. And no one knew where she was. Except me. Ranger is going to kill me.

"Julie, I have to call your dad."

"No, please. I'm so sick of his guards. I'm never alone. He always has someone watching me. And my mom got a new job, so she's never home. And dad is at work. So it's just me and the stupid guards and I hate it! Can't I stay here?"

I had to admit, that was some impressive whining. I had been good at her age, but she had me beat. "Julie, he's going to panic when he realizes you're missing. We have to call him."

"No we don't. He doesn't know. No one knows. Everyone thinks I'm totally fine. My mom even called my cell phone this morning. She still thinks I'm at Grandma's. So see, I can stay here, and no one will notice."

I sighed. The poor kid looked exhausted. She must have hopped on the bus after school yesterday. It was pretty late on Saturday night. It was a 24 hour drive from here to Miami, normally, but the Greyhound made lots of stops. No wonder she was tired.

"Tell you what, Julie. Why don't we call your mom. We'll let her know you're safe, and you can stay here tonight. Then tomorrow, we can figure out what to do next."

She nodded. She didn't look overly thrilled that I was going to call her mom, but I guess it was better than calling Ranger.

She wrote down the number for me, and I stared at the phone. I had met Rachel when Ranger was in the hospital. We had been introduced, shook hands, and had made all the polite noises that the situation called for. But I certainly didn't know her well enough for this phone call. How the hell do you call a woman you barely know, who was once married to a man you're in love with, and explain that you are harboring her fugitive eleven year old? Who she doesn't know has been missing for a day and a half.

My hands shook as I picked up the phone. I had to dial three times to get it right. This was not going to be pleasant. From the look on Julie's face, she was dreading this as much as I was.

"Hello?" A very polite voice with only the slightest Spanish accent answered.

"Uh um…" I coughed and tried again. "Um, is this Rachel?"

"Yes. Who is this?"

"Um, my name is Stephanie Plum. We met in Trenton a couple months ago." I didn't say, 'remember when Julie was kidnapped?' Considering where this conversation was going to go, I didn't figure that was the way to start out.

"Yes, Stephanie. I remember. You were very helpful in saving my Julie. What can I do for you?"

Yeah, she had to bring it up. "Well, that's the thing. See, um, it seems that Julie has run away from home. She's here now, in Trenton, with me. I wanted to call and let you know so you didn't panic when you realized that she's not at her Grandma's house."

The last part all came out in a rush. I braced my self for screaming, crying, name-calling, anything really. That's how my mother would have reacted.

Rachel didn't say anything for a second. Then, in a very calm voice, she continued.

"Julie is there now, in Trenton."

"Yes."

Another pause. "And how exactly did she get to Trenton from Miami?"

"Apparently on the Greyhound."

"On the Greyhound, alone. Did she happen to mention why?"

"She said she was tired of all the security." I wasn't about to mention the part about Rachel always being at work. It really wasn't my place to start that conversation.

"And does Carlos know about this?" Wow, she was very calm at the moment. This is the same woman that had to be sedated while Julie was missing.

"Um, no. She was quite adamant that I not call him. Which is why I called you. Um, she seems pretty tired from the trip. I was thinking maybe she could just stay here tonight, and I'd call Ranger in the morning and you guys could sort it all out then."

"That sounds fine. We won't be able to get a flight out until morning, anyway. Please have Carols or Thomas call me as soon as they are aware of the situation."

"Thomas?"

"Tank. Now, may I speak to Julie?" 

Aha. Here's where the screaming comes in. I handed the phone to Julie, who took it with a very determined look on her face. She was a tough kid, I had to give her that.

"Hi Mom." She listened for a moment, and then started speaking in very rapid Spanish, pacing the length of the living room and gesturing wildly.

Eventually she hung up the phone and turned to me.

"She'll be fine. She says I can stay, but that I should call again tomorrow. And that we should call my dad tomorrow."

"Okay."

"But don't worry. I'll come up with a plan before tomorrow on how to keep my dad out of this."

Oh boy.

"Well, why don't we just go to bed for now, and we'll deal with it tomorrow. Do you want a shower?"

She nodded and I went off to find her some towels. I grabbed some pillows and blankets and started to make up the couch while she was showering.

She saw what I was doing when she came back out. "Oh no, I'm not sleeping there. That's where I was when I shot Chuck. No way can I sleep there."

Oh crap, I forgot about that. She must really want to avoid her dad if she's willing to be here at all.

"Okay, Julie. Are you okay sleeping with me in my room?"

"Yeah, that's way better. But what if my dad breaks in in the middle of the night? What if he sees me? He can't know I'm here yet, please. Not until tomorrow." She stared up at me pleadingly. "Pleeeaaasseee Stephanie?"

"Fine. I'm sure he won't break in. But just in case, we'll put some pans in front of the door. That way if he does come in, we'll hear it and you can hide in the bathroom."

"Thanks, Stephanie. You're the best!" She grabbed me and hugged me around the waist.

I went to stack all my pots in front of the door. I didn't really think Ranger would break in tonight. To be honest, I was more worried about what Julie's plan was, and keeping her in, then I was about keeping Ranger out. He might forgive me for keeping this a secret from him, but he'd never forgive me if I lost his daughter. I took my gun and placed in on my nightstand just in case.

How do I get myself into these things?

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I awoke to hearing pans clattering in the foyer. Julie and I both sat straight up.

"Oh my god, do you think it's my dad."

I hope so. I'm going to lose my friggin mind if I have a new stalker to deal with on top of all this.

"Go hide in the bathroom," I whispered. I jumped up and headed for the living room. I got there, gun in hand, just as Ranger came around the corner.

"Waiting up for me, babe?" he asked, not missing the gun in my hand.

"Um, no. I just didn't expect you. Wanted to be prepared for anyone crazy trying to attack me, is all. Never know who's going to break in. So, what do you need?"

I knew I was babbling. I just couldn't stop. From the way he was looking at me, he could tell I was trying to hide something.

"Maybe I'm trying to break in to attack you. Ever think of that?" He leaned forward, trapping me against the wall in the hallway. He leaned forward and kissed me until I stopped thinking entirely.

I pulled back and stared at him for a minute, trying to remember why I had been avoiding him. He grabbed my hand and started toward the bedroom.

Oh shit, Julie!

"Um, why don't we stay out here." He looked at me curiously when dug my heels in.

"You scared of me, Babe?"

"Um, uh no, I just, um, let's just stay out here." Damn, I'm not good at lying to Ranger. This is not going well at all.

Ranger glanced between me and the closed bedroom door. "Somebody back there?" His voice was calm, but his eyes were hard.

"Yes," I answered slowly. There was no point lying about it now. I knew he wouldn't let up until I told the truth.

"I didn't see Morelli's truck in the parking lot."

"Morelli and I broke up months ago. He's dating some nurse."

"So someone else is back there."

"Yes." Oh this is bad. He thinks I have a man back there, and am out here kissing him. Shit this is bad. I swallowed hard as I saw Ranger's eyes darken even farther. He dropped my hand, turned around, and walked out. I sank against the wall and closed my eyes. I flinched as I heard him kick the pans out of the way as he went through the door.

This plan of Julie's better be damn good. I'm pretty sure I had hurt Ranger, from the expression on his face. Not that he had any claim on me, but I had hurt him regardless. So now I'm stuck relying on an eleven year old runaway to get me out of this. Great.

I headed back into the bedroom to let Julie know it was safe and to get some more sleep.

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Julie got up the next morning, much earlier than I had any intention of getting up. But I did my motherly duty for the day, gave Julie a bowl of frosted flakes and Rex a few flakes and a grape, and headed for the shower. An hour later, I emerged, ready to face the day. Well, as much as I could be under the current circumstances.

Julie was engrossed in cartoons. I cleaned up the remains of her breakfast, grabbed a poptart and a cup of coffee, and sat down next to her to watch. After thirty minutes of cartoons, I decided this mom thing wasn't so bad after all. Then again, the though of my nieces made me realize that motherhood was rarely this easy.

After a while, I realized I was going to have to bring up the issue of calling Ranger, since Julie was clearly content to avoid it.

"So, we gonna call your dad?" Subtle, I know.

"Oh, I came up with a plan," she said, turning to me. Great. This is what I had been worried about. "You can take me to Abuela Manoso's house instead. Then, when dad gets there, she'll stop him from yelling at me. And maybe she'll convince him to let me stay with you for a while. Or at least get rid of the body guards."

This girl seriously wants to stay with me? In my tiny apartment with no food and none of her friends. Wow, she must really be upset with the security situation in Miami. I wondered just how closely Ranger was having these guards watch her.

"Um, okay. But do you really want to stay with me? You'd probably have more fun back in Miami with your friends."

"Nah, they're all away for the summer. Maybe you and me and dad can all live together. You know, at his house."

"Um…ugghh." How do you respond to that? "Your dad and I don't live together, Julie. He lives at the batcave. I don't even know where it is."

She giggled at the batcave reference. "Yeah, but you love each other right? So we can all be like a family for the rest of the summer."

I had to smile at her logic. I could see where it made sense in her head. How do you explain to a kid that while you love her father, he doesn't want a family. Not really something I could tell her. So I settled for the one flaw in her plan.

"Julie, I don't know where your grandma lives. I only know the general neighborhood in Newark. I don't know the address. We'll have to call your dad for that."

"No we won't. I know which house it is. If you drive to the right area, I'll show you the house. I'm sure I can find it."

I was skeptical of this idea, but it beat anything I had come up with for the day. Maybe after a couple hours of aimless driving, she would give up and call her dad.

With that settled, we grabbed her stuff and headed for the car. I stopped dead when we got to the parking lot. A black SUV, clearly a RangeMan vehicle, sat in plain view.

I was just about to grab Julie and take her back inside when Tank came flying out of the driver's side. He did not look happy to see us.

"Uncle Tank!" Julie screeched, running for him. He looked startled, but managed to catch her as she launched herself into his arms.

"Hi Julie. What are you doing here?"

"I ran away from home. I came to see Stephanie. But I'm glad to see you too."

Tank's gaze swung to me in shock. "She what?"

"I already called Rachel and explained where she was. Apparently she took the greyhound. She won't let me call Ranger."

"Julie, honey," Tank said, putting her back down on the ground. "Julie, I have to call your dad. He's going to be worried when he finds out your not at home."

"No, no, Uncle Tank, please don't call my dad. I hate his guards. They never leave me alone. And mom and dad are never home, so I'm stuck with them. Please don't call him, he'll just make me go back."

Julie's eyes had filled with tears, and she was pulling on Tank's hand, begging him not to call. One look at Tank's face was enough to show how torn he was between a pleading little girl and his boss who would certainly have his hide for this.

The poor guy was clearly wrapped around Julie's little finger, and he didn't have the slightest clue what to do next.

Finally, I decided to cut in and give him a break. "Tank, we're just on our way to Julie's Grandma's house. Why don't you give us an hour head start, so we can talk to her, and then call Ranger and have him meet us there."

"I don't know, Bombshell. I really like my job. And I really, really like my body in one piece."

"Please, please, please Uncle Tank!"

Damn this girl was good. I could see Tank caving before my eyes. Slowly he looked up at me and nodded. "One hour, Bomber, and I'm calling Ranger. And don't you dare think I'm taking the blame for this. If he gets pi--upset, you two better explain yourselves, and fast."

Julie and I both nodded in unison. She was excited; I was terrified of Ranger's reaction. But I was pretty sure he wouldn't ship me off. Pretty sure.

"Okay. You know where you're going?"

"I know. I remember what the house looks like."

Tank stared at Julie. "You don't know the address?"

"We'll find it."

I wasn't nearly as confident as Julie that we would find this house. Newark was pretty big. "If you have the address, that'd be great," I said. Especially if we only had an hour head start.

Tank just looked at us both for a minute. "I really hope you two know what you're doing. Come on, I'll drive you."

Julie squealed and ran for the truck. Tank and I followed a bit slower, and a bit more apprehensive.

"So Tank, what were you doing here anyway?" I had a feeling I knew the answer already, and when Tank's face turned sheepish, I was positive.

"I don't know, Bomber. Ranger called at 4 am, and told me to sit here the rest of the night, and watch for anyone going in our out." He glanced again at Julie, climbing into his truck. "I don't think this is what he expected."

"He put surveillance on my apartment? To find out who I was sleeping with? Who the hell does he think…"

"Whoa Bomber. Don't yell at me. He was pretty damn upset. Take it up with him. I was just following boss' order."

I nodded, but was still fuming. It's not like I was cheating on him, even if I had actually had been sleeping with someone. Last night was the third time I'd seen him in as many months. And he has Tank watching my apartment? Yeah, we're going to have words.

We were thirty minutes into the drive when I realized I was going to meet Ranger's mother. Without his permission. Oh my god, I'm going to wake up in Outer Mongolia. I should have brought Rex with me so he'd have somewhere to stay while I'm gone.

By the time we pulled up to a nice, two story row home, I was beginning to hyperventilate. 'Oh my god it's Mama Bat' kept running through my head. As soon as we got stopped, Julie hopped over me, out of the truck, and ran for the door. As Tank and I followed to the door, I was suddenly very glad for his presence.

"Don't worry, Bomber. She's sweet. She'll love you. And she'll immediately be on Julie's side."

I forced a smile, but I still wasn't able to take a deep breath.

Well before I was ready, the door swung open to reveal a small Hispanic woman about my mother's age, with gorgeous skin, dark eyes, and salt and pepper hair.

"Julie! What a nice surprise. Is your father with you?"

"Hi Abuela. No, Dad's not here. I ran away from home. I came to stay with Stephanie," she said, gesturing behind her to me.

"Ah. Well, it's very good to see you, dear. And Thomas!"

Tank leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He then grabbed me and shoved me in front of Mrs. Manoso.

"And you must be Stephanie. It's so wonderful to finally meet you!" She enveloped me in a hug, while I stood there stunned? Finally meet me?

"Carlos doesn't say much about you, you know how he can be. But Thomas and all the other boys tell me all about you, and about how much my son just adores you," she continued, after releasing me.

I turned to Tank in shock. Ranger adores me? Not the word I would have come up with.

"See, Bomber, I told you she'd love you. She knows all about you."

The Merry Men could have been telling her all sorts of things about me. I couldn't even help what came out next. "The funeral home was an accident."

She laughed and took my hand, leading me into the kitchen. "I know, dear. These things happen."

I like this woman already. And only a grandmother could be so calm about her grandchild running away. Tank was right, she was already on Julie's side.

She sat us all down in the kitchen and started serving pie.

"So, Julie. Tell me what was so terrible that you had to come all the way to Jersey."

"It's the guards, Abuela, they're everywhere! I never get any time to myself. I can't be left at home alone and I'm eleven! All my friends are allowed to stay home alone. But I can't. And I can't go to sleepovers without bringing a guard. Do you know embarrassing that it?"

Julie finished on a huge sigh. "It's just so terrible. So I came to stay with Stephanie."

"Well, I can certainly understand the problem. A young woman needs her privacy. But how exactly did you get to Trenton?"

"I took the greyhound."

"Alone?"

Here's where Julie started to look nervous. She nodded slowly.

"Well, I'm sure your father and Ron and Rachel will have plenty to say about that, so I'll save my words. So what are your plans now?"

"Well, we called mom last night, and she said that I have to call Dad. But maybe I could just stay here, or with Stephanie. I mean, he doesn't have to know, right?"

The pleading look and whining didn't do anything for Mrs. Manoso. This woman had raised several children. Julie's tears may work on Tank, and her whining certainly worked on me, but you can't pull anything over on Mama Manoso.

"No, Julie. We will call your father now. Then we can all sit down and work this out. Perhaps we can find some better solution to the guards. Or if you parents agree, perhaps you can stay in Jersey until school starts. I will go call Carlos while you all finish your pie. Stephanie, you are much too thin. Why don't you have another slice."

Well, I certainly wasn't going to turn down pie. This pie might be better than my mother's pie. It was fantastic. We all dug back in, as Mrs. Manoso went to call her son. Better for her to call than any of us. I was pretty sure he wouldn't yell at his own mother when she explained about Julie.

She reappeared in the kitchen a moment later.

"What'd he say about me?" Julie asked.

"Oh no, dear. I didn't tell him all that. I just said I needed him to help me with something around the house. I figured you would need to explain to him yourself what you've done."

Julie stared at her grandmother wide-eyed, but finally nodded. I felt a little bad for her. But she had spent two days on a bus, alone. After evading her guards and lying to her mom. I had a feeling she hadn't thought through the consequences when she started her little adventure.

"Stephanie, why don't I give you a tour of the house."

"Oh, that'd be great." I followed her from the kitchen, looking back apprehensively at Tank. He just smirked at me. Mrs. Manoso showed me half the house before she began questions I had braced for.

"So, Stephanie. I know how Carlos feels about you, but tell me, how do you feel about him."

"Oh we're just friends," I answered quickly, wondering what the hell she could have meant by knowing how Ranger feels about me. I didn't even know how he felt about me.

"But you are in love with him, no?"

Meekly, I nodded. This woman was sharp. I could no more lie to her than I could to Ranger. "Yes, I love him. But he doesn't feel the same about me."

"Oh, I am quiet sure that my Carlos loves you as well. Has he not told you this?"

I might as well spill my guts here. Not like it was really a secret anyway. "He said that he loves me in his own way, but that he doesn't want a relationship or a family."

Mrs. Manoso stopped to look at me, and muttered something under her breath in Spanish. It did not sound flattering. I definitely caught a "muy estúpido" in there. Very stupid.

"Don't worry, dear, I have a plan."

Oh boy. What is it with this family and their plans? And why do I always end up with the raw end of the deal when it comes to the planning?

Before I could object to whatever the plan was, we were back to the living room where Tank and Julie were watching cartoons.

"Now, I need a few minutes alone with my granddaughter, before Carlos arrives." Julie followed her from the room, looking as nervous as I had felt when it had been my turn. I wondered if this secret pow-wow had anything to do with the 'plan.'

"So, Bomber, she grill you on the details of you and Ranger."

"Yeah. She has a 'plan'."

Tank cracked up laughing. I was a bit suspicious of the plan to start with, but Tank's laughter spelled doom. I think he had been party to a few of Mrs. Manoso's plans in the past.

I heard a car door slam outside just as Julie and her Grandma came back into the living room. A minute later, the front door opened.

"Mama, I'm here," I heard Ranger call from the foyer.

I instantly dropped my head between my knees, trying not to hyperventilate. Tank patted me on the back, still laughing.

"Take Rex to Mary Lou's house if I don't make it through this," I whispered to him.

We both stood up as we heard Mrs. Manoso greeting Ranger. Julie went running toward him, squealing "Daddy!"

He easily grabbed her as she jumped up. "Hi Baby, I didn't expect to see you here. Rach…" He froze when he glanced up at me. The shock on his face clearly implied that he expected to see Rachel standing here instead of me. He glanced over at Tank, and then at this mother, before finally shifting his gaze back to me. "What's going on, babe?"

I just opened and closed my mouth for a second. I had never seen Ranger shocked before. He was always aware of his surroundings. Maybe he didn't keep his guard up in his childhood home. Or maybe it was the surprise of seeing Julie.

Before I could think up a decent explanation for why I was standing, uninvited, in his mother's home, Mrs. Manoso took pity on me and spoke up. "Julie, I think this is when you need to explain yourself."

The look Ranger leveled on Julie at this would have made me, at her age, run from the room crying. Probably at this age as well. But she just took a deep breath, straightened her back, and started in.

"Daddy, I ran away from home, and Stephanie helped me."

Shit! That's not how she was supposed to explain that! I could see Ranger's blank face slam into place. Ohh, he was pissed. His hard eyes shifted between me and Julie for a second.

"Someone needs to explain more than that, and fast." His voice was very, very calm.

"Uh, Boss, it appears that Julie showed up at Stephanie's apartment late last night. Julie didn't want to alert you yet, so Stephanie called Rachel, and then brought Julie here this morning."

Ranger's fixed Tank with a look. "And you were aware of this."

"Not until this morning, when they exited the building to come here. They didn't know the address, so I drove them. We called you as soon as we got here."

His gaze now swung to me. "And you called my ex-wife, but you didn't call me." I nodded. "And Julie is who you were hiding last night." His expression was still hard, but I thought I saw the briefest flash of relief when I nodded a second time.

"All right, Julie. You wanted a chance to explain yourself, here it is."

She took another deep breath. "Daddy, I hate your guards. They never leave me alone. And mom and dad are always working. So I'm stuck in the house with your men all the time. I can't even go to sleepovers cause your guards scare the other girl's parents. I'm a woman now, and I need my privacy."

Ranger raised an eyebrow at this, but his voice softened significantly at her reasoning. "Julie, you're eleven years old. And those guards are there to keep you safe. You were in the news a lot when you were kidnapped. Everyone knows now that you are my daughter. I lead a very dangerous life, Querida, and short of keeping you with me at all times, it's the only way I can keep you safe."

"But you can keep me with you! I could stay with you and Stephanie. Then you could keep me safe and I wouldn't have to have guards. We could all live in the batcave together."

Tank snickered and Ranger glared at me. "I'm not even going to ask why she's now referring to my house as the batcave."

I gave him my best sheepish look and mouthed 'sorry.'

"Please Daddy? You and Steph could get married, and then we could all be a family."

Ranger stared back at Julie for a minute. His silence was all his mother needed to jump in.

"Yes, that's a wonderful idea, Julie! Stephanie, we could plan such a perfect wedding for you and Carlos. Just the right mix of Cuban and Italian traditions. And we could do it in Trenton. That's where your family is, right?"

Ranger sprung up from where he had been squatting in front of Julie. "Mama, there will be no wedding."

"What do you think, Stephanie?" she asked me, clearly ignoring Ranger's protests.

"Sounds good to me," I said, knowing that Ranger would never be bullied into a wedding. If I thought for a second it would happen, I'd hyperventilate on the spot. But if we're talking hypothetically…..

Ranger stared at me in shock.

"What? I always wanted to see the Batcave."

"Babe." I had a feeling the thought we were ganging up on him.

"Yes, this will work perfectly. A fall wedding," Mrs. Manaso continued, undeterred.

"Mama. No! There will not be a wedding." He turned back to me. "Christ, she's as bad as your mother when it comes to weddings."

"Carlos!" His mother quickly crossed herself. "You watch your language, young man."

Ranger looked between us again, and then sank onto the couch beside Julie with his head in his hands.

"Daddy," Julie said, pulling on his hand and forcing him to look at her. She had tears swimming in her eyes. "Daddy, don't you love Stephanie?"

"Of course I love her, querida"

"And you love me?"

"Of course I do. I love you more than anything in the world."

"Then why can't we all live together and be a family?" As she said this, big tears began to fall out of her eyes.

I knew Julie was a bright girl. A very intelligent, mature, and serious girl. It made me wonder what her plan was, and if this had anything to do with Mrs. Manoso's plan. I was pretty sure those were fake tears. I had used enough of my own fake tears on my father at her age. From the pained expression on Ranger's face, he couldn't tell the difference. From the way his mother was pressing her handkerchief over her mouth, I was pretty sure she could. Tank was just standing there looking amused.

"Querida, my life, my job…" he trailed off as Julie continued to stare at him with those big sorrowful, tear-filled eyes. "I'm not home a lot Julie, I work a lot. You wouldn't like living with me – I have to leave all the time, and I wouldn't be around to take care of you. That's why you need to stay with your mom.

Oh my god, he's having the 'I-don't-do-relationships, go-back-to-Morelli' talk with an eleven year old! That's terrible!

Mrs. Manoso chose that moment to break in. "Why doesn't she just stay with you for the rest of the summer. What is it, three or four weeks? I'm sure you and Stephanie can handle one little girl for that long. You know Celia and I would help out. And Stephanie, I'm sure you wouldn't mind staying with Carlos for a few weeks, would you dear?"

Stay in the batcave? Holy crap I was just kidding about being okay with this. There was no way I was taking care of Julie for the next month. She's a sweet kid and all, but she's a kid! I break the Merry Men, what would I do to Julie?

But I calmly nodded at Mrs. Manoso, knowing that Ranger would never allow that much of an invasion to his privacy.

"You sure about this, Babe?"

My head snapped around to Ranger. Was he kidding? He was actually considering doing this. Moving Julie and I in and being a family. We were going to be a family.

Oh shit.

I was supposed to be feeling panic. But as I looked back and forth from Ranger to Julie, I realized how badly I wanted this as well.

"Yeah, it'll be fun."

Ranger nodded and stood up to call Rachel. I couldn't make out his words, but it seemed to be going well. He came back in the room a minute later.

"It's all set. Your mom is going to send your stuff, and she and your dad will be here to pick you up in three and a half weeks."

Julie squealed and jumped up, launching herself at Ranger. He caught her laughing, and swung her around. The sight made my heart constrict. I had heard Ranger laugh before, seen him relax, but this…this was a whole different side of him. This was a laughter of pure joy, of promise, of love.

Tears stung my eyes as I watched them. Mrs. Manoso came up behind me and patted me on the shoulder. "Maybe this is just what Carlos needs. He works too hard, and needs someone to love him. You and Julie will do that very well."

I smiled at the thought. Yes, I could love Ranger very well, if he would let me. I continued to watch him with Julie. Oddly enough, I was really looking forward to this. But I had a sneaking suspicion that when these three and a half weeks were over, and Julie and I went home, I was going to be missing a big piece of my heart.


End file.
